Boutique hotels
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Escape
- Style
- Boutique bed and breakfast
- Setting
- Between mountain and beach
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The Grove Narberth
- Style
- Romantic country pile
- Setting
- Pembrokeshire hillside hollow
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The New White Lion
- Style
- Impeccable low-key glamour
- Setting
- Little town of Llandovery
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Ffynnon
- Style
- Glamorous Gothic
- Setting
- Snug in Snowdonia
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Fronlas
- Style
- Eco-friendly Edwardian elegance
- Setting
- Green and gold Brecon Beacons
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Harbourmaster Hotel
- Style
- Boutique inn
- Setting
- Bright, breezy Cardigan Bay
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Llety Bodfor
- Style
- Boutique bed and breakfast
- Setting
- Hills at the back, sea to the front
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The Drawing Room
- Style
- Dainty gastro-boutique
- Setting
- The rolling fields of Powys
Wales Overview
United Kingdom
- Countryside
- Verdant variety show
- Country life
- Coastline, castles and contemporary cool
The sleepy green counterpoint to southern England’s metropolitan madness.
Over the past decade, the central swath of Wales has gained a golden reputation among organic-aware weekenders looking for a break from urban living. Happily, ye olde Wales and cool Cymru co-exist perfectly. There are superchic hotels and restaurants, but also plenty of auntie-run pubs still going strong. Mid-Wales beaches offer Atlantic surf and retro charm; walkers can hike up Snowdon or stroll down the English Marches. With its Victorian spa towns, millions of books in Hay, and the growing gastro scene showcasing Welsh produce, this is a region approaching Next Big Thing status.
Wonderfully Wales
Fuel up on bacon butties or almond croissants in the river-view café at Wye Valley Canoes (+44 (0)1497 847213) in Glasbury, before leaping into action on this impossibly attractive waterway. Don't forget to check out our area-specific Welsh destination guides for Brecon Beacons, Cardigan Bay, Carmarthen Bay and the Vale of Glamorgan.
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- Outside Cardiff, you’ll have to pre-book or find out if there’s a decent local firm via your hotel.
- Tipping culture
- As in the rest of the UK, a 12.5–15 per cent tip is expected in restaurants; sometimes it’s included, sometimes not.
- Packing tips
- Bucket and spade. An audiobook of Under Milk Wood for the car. Umbrella, windcheater, woollies…
- Recommended reads
- On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin; The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce; Collected Stories by Dylan Thomas; Red Kite Country by Mike Reid and Colin Woolf.
- Cuisine
- Try fish, fresh from river and ocean, local cheeses, leek soup, bara brith (a dried-fruit loaf), laver bread (made with seaweed), local lamb and black beef.
- Currency
- Pound sterling.
- Dialling codes
- Country code for the UK: 44.
- Do go/don't go
- It’s all about the weather: seasonal serendipity will decide whether you enjoy a roaring fire or a beach barbecue, though a summer’s day is always likely to be bracing rather than baking. Beaches fill up on summer bank holidays but remember, a crisp winter walk can be extra special when you’ve got the whole valley, beach or hillside to yourselves.
